Boat tunes

02-06-2018, 05:16 PM

I have a Sony marine stereo with cheap Sony speakers that can't be heard while underway. It's wired for amp and tower speaker cans, but wondering about the much easier install of a Bluetooth speaker system.

like the wetsounds system that only needs power and done....usually use cell for music anyway as Sirius Radio is a pain. Anyone using this kind of system on their boat and is it any good?

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Talk to 10 people and you’ll get 10 different answers. All components are good to excellent nowadays. Rockford Fosgate is reportedly among the best right now. I currently have a Kenwood 1000w amp driving Clarion speakers, and a JVC deck which was all pretty good equipment when I redid everything a few years back. The audio quality is perfect and volume is enough to blow you out of the boat.

Don’t be concerned about wiring up a stereo...it’s a very basic process. Anyone can do it in an afternoon. Deck wired to amp, amp wired to speakers and a power cable out to your battery. I have a dual battery setup though so I can run all day without fear of stranding myself. If you don’t have two batts, it is a good improvement to consider.

Start with a good amp and you can build off that at your leisure. Even the addition of a decent amp will greatly improve your stock speakers.

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Thanks....i will start researching so I can get it done before spring. I do have a dual battery setup and heavy gauge wire already run by prior owner. Appears he had a nice system with amp installed before swapping back to stock. I knew he had bought a bigger boat after putting a whopping 20 hours on this boat.

sure wish he had left it in...I woulda paid him for the equipment

Current: 2008 H210SS Four Winns
Prior: 1997 2050SS Bayliner

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I'm also looking to upgrade my sound system and have been looking at different options. I installed a cheap Dual Electronics marine "Mechless" (no CD) package (included 4 speakers) in my now sold 175 bowrider. It sounded great and it cranked. I liked the Bluetooth feature as I just loaded my phone with lots of music ... no cd's to lug around or wire from a mp3 player.

I would be leary about using bluetooth speakers on a boat. I would just use wires.

I'm probably going for something similar to what I had, just a step up in quality.

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I'm also looking to upgrade my sound system and have been looking at different options. I installed a cheap Dual Electronics marine "Mechless" (no CD) package (included 4 speakers)

CD's are history. No matter how good of a deck you buy, they always skip in smaller boats. Most newer decks don't even have a CD any more. Everybody is streaming their audio nowadays. I was just reading the other day that Best Buy is eliminating music CD's from store inventory.

I still have a CD player in my boat, but can't remember the last time I stuck a CD in the slot. The next deck I buy will not have one.

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Bluetooth didn’t work so good for me when I was on the flybridge of my 32xx. So I mainly left my iPhone plugged into the usb in the stereo in the cabin. That kept it charged too.
My head unit put out 60 watts per channel which went to a pair of 6x9’s on the bridge and 3 way Boston acoustic 6” in the cabin. The quality and selection of “non marine” speakers and stereos is much better. Marine isn’t necessary unless you hose your stereo or speakers down.
Now on my 2252, total different story. Inboards and open cabins are loud!!!
Spend a little time and money on insulating your engine cover and plugging leaks from the engine bay to the forward deck. The more you quiet your engine the better your stereo will sound.

Esteban
Detroit, MI
Former Bayliners 3218, 2859, 2252, 1952

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CD's are history. No matter how good of a deck you buy, they always skip in smaller boats. Most newer decks don't even have a CD any more. Everybody is streaming their audio nowadays. I was just reading the other day that Best Buy is eliminating music CD's from store inventory.

I still have a CD player in my boat, but can't remember the last time I stuck a CD in the slot. The next deck I buy will not have one.

I and wife still have ton's of music cd's. I still buy them on Amazon because a CD is cheaper than buying "mp3 only" and when you buy a cd you get the mp3's in addition at no additional cost.
And the survivalist side of me wants cd back up just in case an emp attack occurs and we lose all microelectronics.

Not sure of the future of mp3's either since it's so easy to pirate music. Anyone can get pretty much any music in they want for free using a youtube to mp3 converter.

2003 Bayliner 245
2007 Sedona F21

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I and wife still have ton's of music cd's. I still buy them on Amazon because a CD is cheaper than buying "mp3 only" and when you buy a cd you get the mp3's in addition at no additional cost.
And the survivalist side of me wants cd back up just in case an emp attack occurs and we lose all microelectronics.

Not sure of the future of mp3's either since it's so easy to pirate music. Anyone can get pretty much any music in they want for free using a youtube to mp3 converter.

I've got piles of CD's too...and casettes, and 8-tracks...and vinyl records, but I can't remember the last time I bought one. I used to have Rhapsody music and had that for years, but last year or two went with Amazon Prime since I buy a lot of goods on Amazon. I think I pay $178 a year or something like that and I have all the Prime features, free shipping, and unlimited music anything I can or want to listen to. I can literally go from car to house to boat to anywhere in the world wherever I go I can pick up listening exactly where I left off. I could not imagine not having the service. The thought of actually purchasing a CD and then carrying it around with me...its just not even in the cards any more. And then another issue I have...I like individual songs versus an entire album from the same artist. Buying an entire CD for like what? $10? or whatever a CD costs these days for one single song? Yeah, that's a no for me.

I used to have magazine subscriptions too....actual paper magazines which came in the mail delivered by another human being. Mounds of paper. Can you believe that? Now I still get my magazines, but they show up on my iPad.

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CD's are history. No matter how good of a deck you buy, they always skip in smaller boats. Most newer decks don't even have a CD any more. Everybody is streaming their audio nowadays. I was just reading the other day that Best Buy is eliminating music CD's from store inventory.

I still have a CD player in my boat, but can't remember the last time I stuck a CD in the slot. The next deck I buy will not have one.

I bought a receiver with a CD player because none of these stereo receivers seem to come with built-in flash memory for you to store your music files, and the ones which took SD or microSD cards seem to have been discontinued as of a few years ago. While you can stream music from your phone, I don't want to be completely dependent on that. Plus it's inconvenient enough having to put the phone into airplane mode because I'm out of cellular service range, now I also have to manually enable Bluetooth so I can stream music to my receiver? And I don't want a USB flash drive or cable sticking out of the front of the receiver where it can get in the way.

So that leaves... MP3s burned to CD, since pretty much all the receivers with CD players can also read MP3s off the CDs. I can cram about 10 hours of music onto a CD, and each CD can be a specific genre of music. Kinda sad that the user interface for browsing your music collection is often slower than ejecting a CD, finding a physical CD with the music you want, and popping it in. But it is what it is.

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I will be adding 2 speakers and replacing the original 4. Why they installed 2 at ankle level at midship I will never know. Those riding in bow get blown away, while everyone else is having to sing to themselves.

Not excited about running wires to new locations though. I do not want tower cans that either hit my head or look like Micky Mouse ears mounted on top. Sure hate drilling holes in boat.

Current: 2008 H210SS Four Winns
Prior: 1997 2050SS Bayliner

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I will be adding 2 speakers and replacing the original 4. Why they installed 2 at ankle level at midship I will never know. Those riding in bow get blown away, while everyone else is having to sing to themselves.

Not excited about running wires to new locations though. I do not want tower cans that either hit my head or look like Micky Mouse ears mounted on top. Sure hate drilling holes in boat.

I am very averse to drilling holes in a boat, especially big holes. I mounted two 6x9 speakers in carpeted boxes in the rear gunwales. Clean installation, no holes other than to anchor the boxes down, and if I want to reconfigure, I can have the whole mess out in about 10 minutes.